Suspect in custody in fatal stabbing of bar owner

Authorities are investigating the stabbing death of a Portage Park bar owner early this morning and the fatal stabbing of her ex-husband, whose body was found later in his home.

Henryka Waskowski, 67 and a resident of the 6400 block of North Berteau Avenue, was pronounced dead at about 3 a.m. after she was stabbed in the neck outside Henryka's, 5703 W. Irving Park Rd., about 45 minutes earlier.

The body of her ex-husband Cezar Waskowski, 73, was later found in his home in the 3700 block of North Kilpatrick Avenue, a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement source said Chicago police have a suspect in custody who was arrested in Westchester this afternoon.

Westchester police confirmed that its officers had arrested a wanted suspect during a traffic stop in the western suburb and turned that person over to Chicago police.

A 34-year-old man with Henryka Waskowski this morning told police he saw the woman being chased by another man with a large knife, Chicago Police Officer Laura Kubiak said. When the man tried to intervene, he too was stabbed in the back.

Both victims were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where Waskowski was pronounced dead.

Details were not immediately available on Cezar Waskowski's death.

Court records show that Henryka Waskowski filed for divorce from her husband in 1991. A death notice for Marylka Waskowski published in the Tribune in 2009 identifies the Waskowskis as the woman's parents and indicates that they had two other children, a daughter and a son.